Alain Juppe

Alain Juppe (15 August 1945-) was Prime Minister of France from 17 May 1995 to 2 June 1997, succeeding Edouard Balladur and preceding Lionel Jospin. He also served as Foreign Minister from 1993 to 1995 and from 2011 to 2012.

Biography
Alain Juppe was born in Mont-de-Marsan, Aquitaine, France in 1945. A graduate of the elite colleges Ecole Normale Superieure and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, he became a speechwriter for and protege of Jacques Chirac in 1976. After Chirac's election in 1978 as Mayor of Paris he became his economic and financial director, and in 1986 became a Deputy in the National Assembly. He served as Secretary of State for the Budget from 1986 to 1988, and as secretary-general of the Rally for the Republic from 1988 he made a significant contribution to their victory in the 1993 elections. As Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1995 he was the most outspoken and enthusiastic ally of Chirac's bid for the presidency, and wa sappointed Prime Minister after the latter's victory. He struggled hard to realize the President's contradictory election promises of a reduction in unemployment, increased social spending, and a reduction of state spending. He was more a technocrat than a communicator, and his attempted public spending reforms in late 1995 caused the biggest popiular protests in French society since 1968. He left office after the victory of the left in the snap 1997 elections, and he would later be elected Mayor of Bordeaux in 1996. In 2007, he briefly served as Minister of State for Ecology and Sustainable Development, and he served as Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs from 2010 to 2011 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2012. In 2016, he lost The Republicans presidential primary to Francois Fillon.